Codemasters to develop WRC games from 2023

Codemasters, the British developer responsible for the F1 and DiRT Rally franchises, has revealed it has signed a five-year deal with the FIA World Rally Championship to develop and publish officially-licenced games based on the series, according to a post on the GamesIndustry.biz website.

Codemasters is set to take over the rights to produce WRC games from French studio Kylotonn, who has held the licence since producing 2014’s WRC 5.

The licence will allow Codemasters to produce WRC games on console, mobile and PC between 2023 and 2027, with esports tournaments also included in the package. Kylotonn’s own WRC Esports series will be a hard act to follow given its high-profile association with Toyota.

Intriguingly, the team responsible for Codemasters’ recent homage to rallying – DiRT Rally 2.0 – are said to be working on a new game: “The DiRT Rally team is already working on their next project ahead of the WRC agreement in 2023,” claimed a Codemasters spokesperson.

Does this mean Codemasters’ first WRC game will be a sequel of sorts to DiRT Rally 2.0? We certainly hope so.

Are you looking forward to Codemasters’ new WRC game in 2023? Let us know in the comments below.